UPCOMING EVENTS

People like to dress up in costumes for Halloween. It makes sense: Wearing a goofy and/or scary outfit shows everyone what interests they have while also hiding their normal, boring-ass appearances.

Hardware makers have a way to proudly display what makes their systems “cool,” too — only they do it by putting costumes on their video game consoles! After the break, you’ll find our top 10 special edition gaming console mods.

Note: These are not necessarily the “coolest” consoles ever made, just the best modifications of special edition systems.

9. Nintendo DSi – 20th Anniversary SaGa 2 EditionKnown as Final Fantasy Legends 2 here in the states, SaGa 2’s release in Japan was a huge deal. To commemorate the historic occasion of the 289th release of a Final Fantasy-related game, this very sweet-looking little beast was available for a limited-time in Japan only.

8. Microsoft Xbox – Halo 2 Ice BlueReleased only in Asia and Canada, this eye-pleasing clear blue Xbox never made it to the states. That’s right, an American company released one of the best-looking systems in a market that (at the time) did not care a whole lot about the product. Now that’s marketing!

7. Sega Dreamcast – Resident Evil S.T.A.R.S. EditionAs any gamer worth his or her salt knows, the Dreamcast was the best system ever made by Sega. This scary cool version of the console was available in either red or blue and was limited to a run of 1800. One recently sold on eBay for upwards of $800…for a long-dead system, believe it or not.

6. Sony PlayStation 2 – Sakura Pink ModelThis god-awful color choice was exclusively available in Asia and Japan and has been responsible for blindness in at least 10% of the people unfortunate enough to stare at it too long. OK, that’s a made up number, but man is that an ugly color.

5. Microsoft Xbox – Hello Kitty EditionWe did not make this one up. This beautiful (if you are a ten-year old girl) game system was limited to just 500 lucky kids from Singapore in celebration of that smash hit Hello Kitty: Mission Rescue. Warning: Those with daughters best skip this article or risk having to track down this monstrosity for your little kitty-lovers.

4. Nintendo Game Boy Advance – Classic NES EditionThis rendition of the GBA made to look like a classic Nintendo Entertainment System from the ’80s is one of the coolest GameBoy-related mods (and there’s a ton!). The best part is you didn’t even have to blow on the little cartridges to get them to work.

3. Sony PlayStation Portable – Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command EditionIt seems like all the best console skins and mods come out of Japan, and most of them do. This well-designed, extremely limited edition PSP however comes from our English pals in the UK. We would have expected a Doctor Who PSP before Warhammer, though. Shows what we know.

2. Sony PlayStation – Blue Developer ModelThis highly coveted PlayStation was not exactly a limited-edition model you could get your hands on. If you had a blue PlayStation, that means you had a game system that could not only play any region’s releases, but could also play production discs (discs burned by developers for review). These are the systems you would have found in the offices of your favorite video game magazine in the ’90s.

1. Microsoft Xbox 360 – Modern Warfare 2 EditionMicrosoft always wins the costume contests when it comes to their special edition consoles. If this list was the Top 20 console mods, the Resident Evil 5, Beatles: Rock Band, and Halo 3 special edition consoles would have easily made the list. The Modern Warfare 2 console does happen to be one of the coolest, though. As one of the creator’s of this incredible skin put it, “This console looks like it belongs in the trunk of a HumVee in a war.”